Mosley warns F1 teams against writing him off

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Motor racing chief Max Mosley  claims he is under pressure to stay on as head of Formula One’s  governing body after opponents rushed to write his obituary  following a peace deal last week.

“They made the mistake of dancing on my grave before I was  buried,” the 69-year-old Briton told the Mail on Sunday  newspaper in an interview.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) president  suggested the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), led by  Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, had made a serious  miscalculation.

“It’s no good the teams getting a PR agency to claim I am  dead and buried when I am standing here as large as life. I am  under pressure now from all over the world to stand for  re-election,” he said.

“I do genuinely want to stop. But if there is going to be a  big conflict with the car industry, for example, with the FOTA  teams, then I won’t stop,” he added.

“I will do whatever I have to do. It’s not in my nature to  walk away from a fight.”

Montezemolo and FOTA came to an agreement with the FIA on  Wednesday to scrap Mosley’s planned budget cap and avert a  breakaway series.

Mosley said he would not stand for re-election in October  and looked forward to a quiet summer. It was understood that  the FIA Senate, under Monaco’s Michel Boeri, would handle  Formula One matters in the interim.

A day later, the FIA president suggested that the deal  could collapse unless Montezemolo apologised for likening him  to a dictator. Mosley also wrote to FIA members urging them to  stand up to the teams and manufacturers.

While expressing anger and astonishment at Montezemolo’s  comments, although he himself labelled some team bosses  ‘loonies’ (lunatics) at the British Grand Prix, Mosley also  dismissed the Italian.